Scarred
by BrightSide of Nowhere
Summary: Some scars are skin deep, but some lie within. WARNING: DARK FIC WITH CHARACTER DEATHS.


Title: Scarred

Disclaimer: If you are a fluff reader (which is what I normally write), than don't read this. This isn't some sugar-coated, angst filled shortie where everything works out in the end. It is a dark fic, with some semi-graphic images. The characters belong to JKR. It's dark because I felt like there was a little to much lovey stuff in my HP folder, and I needed to write something with an edge. Don't ask me why, and don't sit here and flame me because it's so harsh and dark and cruel. News flash, Malfoy is hard and dark and cruel.

Summary: Hermione didn't know until it was too late. Severus didn't expect what happened. And when he tries to save her, he doesn't just fail.

Warning: Character deaths, mildly detailed death scene, not for people that can't handle a dark fic.

-x-

Deep pools of dark water shined in the moon light, the wind whipped through the bare trees and through the hair of Hermione. A bright yellow moon hung low in the sky, dark clouds lingering near it. Deep darkness surrounded her, outside of the moon's dim light. The wind howled, making noises that seemed to be pulled from the center of hell. As harsh and horrid the night had been, Hermione stood at the edge of the cliff, her toes barely off the edge. The water below surged, hit the rocks below with a sound like thunder, and the sea breeze could chill the soul. The water was black, almost as black as the pools of dark water watching her. Hidden behind her, in the vast darkness, they watched. The wind blew through her hair, throwing the water against the rocky edge below. A jump from this cliff, if you managed to survive the fall, was lethal by the rocks alone. Only people desperate enough came here, late at night. And their intentions were always the same. No one had ever jumped, most chickened out. The others were saved by someone watching them. No one had managed the jump. But Hermione, well she wasn't just anyone. "Don't." A faint sound was carried by the wind, and Hermione couldn't tell if it was a real voice or her mind fabricating the man she wished would save her. But she knew that man was no where near her, no where near this place, and he didn't care. "Don't." The voice was louder now, and Hermione turned instantly to the place the noise came from. He wouldn't be here, so she knew it wasn't him. Maybe the rumors where true, and there really was a man who saved those from their death. "Don't." The voice was louder, more distinctive, and Hermione felt like she had heard that voice before. But it wasn't him, and if it wasn't him, then it didn't matter.

"It doesn't matter who you are." Hermione yelled into the darkness, still unsure if there was a real person there. "If you aren't him, then it means nothing to me. So run along, you won't save me." Hermione turned her back to the darkness and focused on the sound of the water breaking below.

"Don't." This time there was no imagination. The voice yelled at her, commanding her, and Hermione felt the same feeling as before, the feeling that she knew who was speaking. She turned to face the darkness, but it was no longer there. A man, holding a wand that was lit at the tip, stood before her. "Don't." The man repeated.

"Move along, this is none of your business. You may have helped others before me, but I will not be saved. If you are not him, you will not save me." Hermione said.

The man's face was hidden in the darkness, although Hermione was well lit. Her tear-stained cheeks and red, puffy eyes were signs that something had hurt her deeply. "He will not come."

"Then I will not be saved." Hermione said. Whoever this man, or thing, was, he obviously had a way to know why people where here. That must be how he saved all those people from their deaths.

"Can one man really cause this much hurt?" The man said.

Hermione was intrigued by him, and she felt another odd sensation that she knew him. "Yes," was her simple reply. She went to turn back when the man leaned forward and grabbed her arm. She felt a chill run through her spine, and suddenly she knew that she had been touched by him before. "Who are you?"

"A creature of the night," was his only reply.

"Can't you show yourself?" Hermione asked, intrigued by the man.

"No," he answered quickly. "If I did, all things would come to an end. How did one man cause all this hurt?"

Hermione was confused by his question, wondering how he knew the hurt she was feeling. But compelled to know more of him, to solve one finally mystery before her death, she played along. "It takes a truly evil man in sheep's clothing, to pull of this much pain to one person."

"False identities, lies, conspiracy, pain. It's human nature." The man said.

"Not for everyone, just for those who are evil." She said.

The man let his wand go out, and she heard him rustle to put it away. "Sit at the edge; I will sit in the dark. For a few minutes of your time is all I ask, and then I will leave you to your self-destruction."

Hermione, although she knew nothing of who this man was, did as she was told. There was an authority in his voice that reminded her of something from her school days. She even felt like she had taken commands from him before, although most of her old professors were dead. "Why?"

"It's what I do." He said. "Tell me, this evil wolf in sheep's clothing, did you love him?"

"Yes."

"And did he love you likewise?" The man in the shadows asked.

"I think that was part of the clothing." Hermione said.

"You think he pretended to love you, just to hurt you?" The man asked.

"Yes."

The man was silent for a while, but when he spoke he had a much more serious tone then before. "Did you ever think, maybe he didn't know how to love?"

"He was evil, and I know that for a fact." Hermione said, getting defensive. The anger in her began to rise and her cheeks began to get red.

"I had no intention of upsetting you, just merely asking a question. So if he is evil, as you say he is, then why kill yourself over him?"

"I loved him, with everything that I had." Hermione said. "When we were first together, it was like heaven on earth. He treated me like a queen, made me feel like I was on top of the world. I thought of nothing but him. He was the sun and I revolved around him. Every minute that we were apart felt like an eternity and I could barely stand it. I was deeply, madly, head-over-heels in love with him."

"And," the man began, "he did something horrible. It started with a simple fight, then it snowball to one fight after the other. Then he started staying out all night, coming home reeking of booze and sex. He started to be violent, started making you feel like you were lower than dirt. And then, he left you. Publicly announced his marriage to another, and left you with nothing, not even a home." The man said.

"How did you know?" Hermione asked.

"I read the papers. Malfoy is common royalty in these parts, and I knew his father once." The man said.

"Oh yes, the bastard that he was. It was Lucius Malfoy's idea that Draco start a relationship with me, back when I was still in school." Hermione said, feeling worse and worse as she sat there.

"I see," the man said with a certain smile in his voice. "You aren't just jumping because of the pain he caused. You have guilt you have built up all these years. He just helped you hide it for a while."

"You know me, don't you?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, Hermione. I know you quite well. And I know that you feel responsible for Ron and Harry's deaths." The man said.

"SHOW YOUR FACE!" Hermione shouted, pulling her wand out and standing up.

"Now, I can't do that. And you might as well put that away. It's to damn dark for you to see me, and if you try a light, I will very quickly disappear."

"I may want that." Hermione said.

"But you don't." The man replied. "Just like you don't want to jump off that cliff."

"You know what, I really think I do." Hermione said.

The man inched closed and Hermione could feel his presence. "No you don't. Or at least, you shouldn't. Lucius and Draco Malfoy were masters at getting inside you. They knew all the tricks to get you, and the people around you, to trust them. It was a mistake that any person could make, that many people made. But you are not responsible for their deaths. One day, Malfoy will meet his fate. My only hope is that I am there to see it." The man said.

"How do you know this?" Hermione asked.

"I knew his father, I told you that. He got to me, made me trust him, and made me believe that he was good. I lost someone close to me because of that mistake." The man said.

Hermione, who was slowly inching closer and closer to the edge, played along with him to distract him. "Seems like you should be right beside me ready to jump, rather than telling me to stop."

"STOP BACKING UP!" The man yelled. "_Petrificus Totalus_!" The man said, his wand having pointed at Hermione. Hermione suddenly froze and the man stepped forward out of the shadows. If her mouth could move, Hermione would have screamed. "You see now, what price I paid for the Malfoy's? I paid for my crimes, Hermione. You don't have to pay for yours. You did nothing wrong, you were never on the wrong side. You were always good and honest; you always did the right thing. It was Malfoy, it was me, and it was others; that did the wrong thing. And in time, they will all pay some worse than I did."

Hermione, still unable to move, stared up at him. His once pale, flawless face was scarred all over. The right side of his face was disfigured horribly with a burn that ran from his forehead all the way down till she could no longer see. His right arm was burnt in the same disfigured pattern, and she knew that he must be burnt all down his body. A large cut had left a nasty scar and a missing eye on his left side, and his arm was missing from the shoulder down. He looked like something Hermione could only dream about in a nightmare, not like a real person standing in front of her. She wanted to scream at the sight, even cry, but her body could not move at all.

"It's rather hard to see me, and if you weren't petrified, you would probably fall off that cliff from fear. Now you know why I don't show myself anymore, why I disappeared so long ago." Hermione just looked at him. "I suppose you want to know what happened, although you can't say so in your behalf. I am going to tell you anyways, whether you would want to or not. You see, it's not easy being two-sided. It's even harder when you are messing with someone as powerful as Voldemort. But when he found out what I was doing, he decided to torture me and leave me scarred for life, rather than kill me right there. The pain, it was the worst I had ever felt in my life. He slowly burned my right side with his wand, from my forehead to my toes. With knives, Lucius cut my face and gouged my eye out. With a saw, Draco cut my arm off. All other Death Eaters, they sat there and watched. They laughed and taunted as I screamed in agony and pain. And if the pain wasn't bad enough, Voldemort delivered me to Dumbledore, blood-covered and mutilated. Then Voldemort tortured Dumbledore, the only man who ever gave a damn about me, right before my eyes. I had to watch that man, a man so proud that he refused to beg for death, be tortured until he died. And when all the noise of the horrible event was heard, and Minerva ran up to see what was going on, Voldemort turned and did the same thing. Professor after Professor, I watched people I knew and who I cared for, mutilated and tortured. And when Voldemort was done, when he had his fun, he dropped me at Saint Mungo's, determined that I would live each day to remember what he had done and what I was punished for."

The spell had worn off, and tears streamed down Hermione's face. "Professor," she began to say, but she had no words.

"You have been out of school a long time, and I no longer deserve the respect that title brings." He said.

"Professor, where have you been all this time? Everyone thought you had died with them." Hermione said through her tears.

"If only I had, then I wouldn't have to live with the images of their deaths. I don't sleep, because every time I close my eyes, their deaths haunt me. Their faces, twisted with agony and terror, haunt me while I am awake. I can never be rid of the screams, they constantly echo in my head. I cannot even sit alone, without replying the night in my head. I have gone insane, seeing them standing next to me; all bloody and mutilated from his hand." He was crying, and the tears wove their way down the scarred face.

Hermione stared at him. "Once, a long time ago, I feared you. I feared that you were the evil one, the one that would cause death. But it was not you, but the Malfoy's, that caused death. I told Draco you were on our side, that you were telling false things to Voldemort, and that you were telling the truth to Dumbledore. I am responsible for what you have become, just like I was responsible for Harry and Ron's death. I am responsible for all the death, because Lucius and Draco could not have gotten any information without me. I was the key to the destruction, and I fell for it like an idiot. I am so sorry, Professor Snape, that I have caused you this pain."

"You are not responsible. You were a tool they used, you could not have seen through it. It was their fault, not yours." Snape said.

"I wish, Professor, that I could believe you. And while you have been so strong to live, to go by each day with those memories in your head and the scars upon you, I cannot go on living with this knowledge. I am responsible, and I know that I am. Goodbye, Severus." She blew him a kiss, and then leaned back. He rushed to the edge, attempting to catch her, but he was too late. He watched her as she fell, their eyes locking with each others. She closed her eyes, and then she disappeared in the water below, the waves pulling her body under. He watched the waves, hoping for some sign that she had made it alive. But there was none.

"Well, it took care of my business."

Snape turned to the voice behind him. Draco stood behind him, a huge smile upon his face. His blonde hair lay still despite the rushing of the wind, and his eye's were nothing more than cold, gray stones. "You are truly evil." Snape said.

"Yes Severus, and if only you were too. Then you would not be reduced you what you are, scarred and weak. Then again, you were always so weak I could hardly stand it." Draco smiled and walked over to the edge, looking down below. "You know, she's much better dead. It was, after all, her fault all this happened. She is even responsible for the way you are, my dear old professor. And don't worry; I never missed an opportunity to tell her that."

Snape began to fume with anger. "You made her jump; you might as well have been here to push her. YOU MURDER."

"Yes," Draco said, "I may be a murder. But at least I didn't fail at an attempt to save her. I always knew, even back when we were in school, that you fancied her. I knew when I married her, that you were silently cursing me for marrying her. I even knew that you warned her about me, and that she hated you for it. Because no matter how hard you tried, I was always better than you, Severus. You couldn't even save her, just like you couldn't save Dumbledore and the rest of the professors. Just like you couldn't save yourself."

Fury built up inside him, and with one quick push, Severus pushed Malfoy off the cliff. The blonde seemed to float forever, screaming in terror as he fell. Finally, his voice was drowned out by the breaking of the water. Severus watched as he swam up to the surface, but as soon as he breathed, a wave picked him up and slammed him against the rocky surface of the cliff, leaving the stone covered in his blood. Over and over again, Malfoy's body was picked up and slammed into the wall, until there was nothing left of his body, and only fragments of him was left floating on the surface. Snape wondered if the sea knew how evil Malfoy had been, and chose to give him a more painful and horrid death, and yet merely swallowed Hermione into its depths. And that was the last thought on Severus's mind when he jumped off the cliff. Hermione.

A/N: Bet you didn't even expect that. To tell the truth, when I read back over it, I don't even think I wrote it. But, even though I love to write stories where they are together at the end and everything worked out, I think every author should break out from the routine and write something to shock their readers. Always keep them on their toes, you know? Well, this story makes me kind of sad, so I am going to go back to writing my love stories. Don't hate me, okay? Cause I love them just as much as you do!!! Review, but please don't flame.


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